Quest for Immortality
by Bittermahogany
Summary: Roosterteeth Achievement Hunter


Everyone cheered as Michael put up the tower. Ray was throwing roses in the air and everyone was painstakingly clapping until Geoff shouted.

"Let's Stop!"

Instantly the cheering halted. Michael jumped from the top of the tower to his roof, then crouched and jumped to the grassy floor with a thud.

"Congrats Michael." Gavin patted him on the back, a goofy smile on his face. The Let's Play today was long and not the most action filled, a little boring to be honest. Geoff was worried they wouldn't have finished by night fall, when suddenly Michael took the victory, to the relief of all. Gavin had helped Michael for most of the way through and while he was a little miffed when Ryan decided to mess with them it all turned right in the end.

"Thanks." Michael smiled back and flexed his arms a little, he couldn't have won without Gavin. He looked at Ray who was picking the roses he had thrown as they cheered; the only one still left on his lot of land.

"Why do you keep throwing them if you're going to pick them back up?" Michael asked, annoyed. Some of those roses still had thorns on them and seeing as how Ray was the only one who regularly wore gloves it got annoying some times to pick up.

Ray stood, rolling his eyes. He didn't seem to mind that his suit was dirty, or that blades of grass were sticking to his pants. Michael never did understand Ray's need to wear a tuxedo suit, they got dirty constantly and weren't very good mining wear, it was a surprise they weren't permanently stained brown.

"It's the sense of the thing." Ray said, his nose in the air and his stance as snooty as he could get, "You wouldn't understand."

Michael crossed his arms, a biting scowl on his face. "I don't understand because I'm not a fucking girl unlike some people. Now hurry the fuck up and get off my lawn." If it were anyone else they'd be offended, maybe a bit hurt, but Ray just sniffed, stuck out his tongue, and left with roses in arms.

"Rude." Ray muttered as he trekked to his dirt house that contrasted with his fine clothing.

The sun was setting on Achievement City and as everyone went into their respective houses and beds Michael found something like dissatisfaction in his chest. The tower of pimps was outside his house and he'll surely brag about it come the next few days but it was lacking. The little achievements Gavin and Geoff come up with were usually insane but recent ones, I Spy, for example, was a little disappointing compared to their usual agenda.

It was obvious between Rock, Paper, Scissors, and the dangerous Creeper Soccer that they were running out of ideas that were fun but also moderately safe (it wasn't fun if no one got just a little hurt). Sure, they had tons of ideas, but most of them involved something too death-defying. Nine out of ten plans that Gavin pitched were automatically shot down because they were _1_) stupid and _2_) dangerous beyond repair. Were they running out of juice? They had to run out of ideas sometime.

Michael sighed, turning in his bed and tried to get some rest. He hoped next Friday's Let's Play would be better. Or else he might actually start getting bored and that never happened, not since he joined the Achievement Hunters.

The next day came and with it the square sun was shining bright on the Achievement Hunter logo. Gavin and Geoff were already talking in front of the message board by the time the rest of the Achievement Hunters got out of their houses, both entirely clad in worn diamond armor. Slowly everyone gathered around them, all in various armors of their own, waiting for Plan G to address them.

"Alright you fuckers," Geoff said loudly, trying to get the other's attentions, it was always bad when Geoff didn't immediately address them, that's when the sub conversations would pop up and he'd have to wait five minutes to get their focus. "I know that the past few Let's Plays sucked-"

"You could say that again." Ray chuckled, looking at his neighbors/co-workers in askance. "Am I right?"

"Let the man talk Ray!" Michael said. He looked at Geoff's mildly annoyed face and nodded. "Go on Geoff."

"Thank you Michael." Geoff more tilted his head then nodded and began once more. "But me and Gavin-"

"Gavin and I." Ryan interrupted, ignoring the murmurings of 'nerd' from Michael and Ray.

Geoff ignored him, "got this idea last night, already got the plot of land planned out and everything."

"It's gonna be top!" Gavin enthused. The Let's Play they had in mind was actually more of a redo of one of their older ideas but it was a pretty brilliant old idea and it wasn't like the guys would know.

"So get to work!" Geoff simply left with that remark, heading past Ray's house, to where the plot of land most likely was.

"We should be back by nightfall. If we aren't, assume we're trapped by zombies or we've deserted you guys and sold our equipment to friendermen." With that Gavin left too, calling towards Geoff to wait up.

"Don't forget your map!" Jack shouted to their retreating backs. "We don't want you losing your way back!…Again!"

Geoff waved him off, shouldering his large pack and motioning to Gavin to, "Hurry up, fucker", leaving the rest of their crew to check the message board.

The message board usually held the materials and amounts needed for that week's Let's Build. After nearly a year and a half since their first 'Let's Play' there was little they didn't have. Diamond armor, a safe nether portal that led to a safe Nether fortress, an enchantment table- they'd be considered rich and brave at any small town. Considering Michael didn't know what Iron looked like in their first Let's Play, they've come a long way. That being said there were some items that were hard to find or perhaps used constantly to the point that there was never enough; hence the message board. Whatever was needed Gavin or Geoff put up there and the others would get it.

"Let's see we need some glowstone, smooth stone, redstone..." Michael read off from the board, his eyebrows furrowed, "I could probably get the glowstone but I'd need backup." One of the rules of Achievement Hunter was to never go to the Nether alone, always bring a watch, so you wouldn't lose track of time there, and a flint and steel. The first and last time someone went there alone, Ryan couldn't come back out because a ghast blew the portal up. He was gone three days and everyone thought he was done for.

"I'll go," Ray volunteered. "Need more blaze powder." He said with a smile and a wink.

"We're running low on food too." Jack noted, the community chest by Ryan's house usually held all their food rations and all Jack saw when he opened it were a few bad apples and a single raw beef. With six growing men it wasn't long until they needed to find food again which was a problem because sometimes the animal population seemed endangered; not one cow, chicken, or pig showing up for weeks and only encountered in the deepest of caves, strangely enough. Jack petitioned for a farm once, it wouldn't have been hard to keep up, he argued, but in true Achievement Hunter fashion everyone playfully mocked him. He actually attempted growing wheat and melons but then just to be asses everyone else just jumped on the crops. It was never to be.

"We'll manage." Ryan shrugged his pack to his back, his newly forged iron armor was giving him some trouble and he turned and twisted comically to try and get his arms through the straps. "Can someone help me with this?"

The group split up, in the first days of building new Let's Plays Geoff and Gavin never really knew the exact amount of what they needed or sometimes even what was necessary, so it was best just to collect a little of everything.

Ray and Michael readied up to go to the Nether to get the glowstone. There was a time when going to the Nether was scary, but just a few weeks ago Geoff and Gavin made a whole replica of Achievement City in there, right next to a Nether Fortress too. How they made it without any of the other guy's notice and without getting seriously injured by the Blaze spawner nearby was a mystery.

Jack and Ryan went off to find a suitable cave for the building materials, killing animals along the way for food. One of the drawbacks of doing this for a year and whatever months is that some of the mines around Achievement City were sucked dry and so they had to travel some distance before they could find a good mine. The mine under Jack's house was barren, nothing but winding tunnels and a mineshaft they tried to make but failed to considerably.

* * *

"We should be getting back." Geoff stated once the sun was about to set. The completed layout of the building stood in front of them and it seemed like it would be smaller than they imagined which was good. It wasn't an exactly original Let's Play, but it was going to be better than the more recent ones they've done.

Gavin whipped out his map, satisfied that it didn't take long to load. "It looks like Ryan is back home, and Jack's almost there." Every person on the map was labeled by a colored arrow icon that was parallel on every map. Everyone had memorized each color and person with the exception of Jack, who seemed to ask who was which color almost every morning.

"I can't find Michael or Ray anywhere." Gavin bit his lower lip. "They might've gone to the Nether." It was always slightly worrying when someone went into the Nether. With the map, no matter how far apart you were on Achievement Island, you at least knew where someone else was. One of the things Geoff drilled to the Achievement Hunters early on was to have a map so you don't get lost. But that was early on, now there were colossal landmarks to guide you back to Achievement City which was to say if you didn't first see Geoff's giant monolith in the sky. But if you were in the Nether, a map of the overworld was void and vice versa.

"They'll be fine." Geoff tried to reassure Gavin. "They probably forgot their watches or something."

Watches were something Ryan had shown to them. After five months of wanting to do more complex Let's Plays than 'first to bedrock' and simple pig races, Ryan came along, his brain full of complex crafting knowledge. He introduced, watches and maps, potions and enchanting. The man was a lifesaver.

"I hope they didn't." Gavin said, he pocketed the map in his pants pocket for easy access and followed Geoff back home.

Gavin and Geoff trudged back to Achievement City, Gavin checking his map periodically and walking ahead quickly even though Geoff told him to slow down.

He didn't fully relax though until he saw the brown arrow that was Ray and the yellow arrow that was Michael back on the map. But even then he didn't slow. Geoff was huffing and puffing by the time they made it back to Achievement City. Jack was cooking in the furnaces and Geoff wearily plopped down in front of them.

"I'm not as young as I used to be." Geoff said in reply to Jack's questioning look. Opening a bottle Jack handed him, Geoff observed the Lads. Gavin was hugging Michael and Ray tightly, getting glowstone dust on his creeper-like clothes and making him shine a bright yellow. Both Ray and Michael didn't really seem to get why their third member was so clingy but they didn't ridicule him, or at least didn't look like it from where Geoff was sitting, but instead they were trying to get Gavin to jump under the bridge with them to get the excess glowstone dust off of them.

"So how did the building go?" Ryan joined them, just finished putting the last of the unneeded inventory in one of Geoff's many chests. He pulled a pork out of the furnace and served it up on a plate.

Geoff shrugged, "If everything goes as planned it'll be up by Thursday."

"On three?" Gavin asked, they were standing on the ledge of the bridge, their bright yellow figures reflected in the clear water. All their armor was set aside at the foot of the bridge, the glow would have to be washed out later.

"One two- Ah!" _Splash_. Michael laughed from the ledge of the bridge as Gavin and Ray glared at him from the water.

"No fair Micoo!" Gavin shouted, he tried to climb up on the bridge and drag Michael down but Michael dodged, taunting the drenched boy with a smile on his face.

The Gents watched from the furnaces, the Lads loud voices easily carrying to their positions. "You know I could use a bath, building's gotten me all sweaty. "

Ryan looked at Geoff, his eyebrow quirked, "What are you suggesting?"

"Jeesh Ryan," Jack said, his mouth slightly full from some steak. He swallowed and spoke again, "Way to be a creep."

Geoff was already getting rid of his heavy armor. "I'm suggesting ganging up on Michael and then starting a water fight." Geoff devoid of armor, ran and screamed, "Sneak attack!" Successfully missing Michaela as he sidestepped and tripping right into the water under the bridge.

"How did you miss?" Ray asked disbelievingly, "He's _glowing_."

Geoff sputtered, spitting water out of his mouth and defended himself with a weak, "My shoes were untied."

Michael howled with laughter and did not stop until Ryan tripped him, taking a dunk head first and coming up with a glare as Gavin and Ray splashed him. "Whatever," He said flippantly, "needed to get washed anyway." He then proceeded to try and dunk Gavin underwater, ignoring Gavin's obscene gagging noises and only washing a few feet away from his target because of Jack's cannonball.

* * *

"You know we should be paid overtime. I mean we work all week-long collecting materials, on the _weekends _even, and then we do Let's Plays which isn't really a break and we start all over again." Ray paused in mining, wiping the sweat on his forehead with his arm. "I want a raise."

"Stop complaining already." It was Wednesday and Michael and Ray had already gotten all the things they needed from the Nether so they were helping Ryan and Jack with the other things on the board. "It's grating my ears."

Ray pouted, "What do you think Ryan?" Jack had fucked off elsewhere twenty minutes into their excavation, still probably at the higher levels of the cave.

"We work for free. What's a raise from free, minimum wage?" There were some large villages that used a monetary system based on emeralds that Ryan had come across in his traveling days but most of the villages Ryan had lived in were trade based. Honestly in Achievement City a salary wasn't needed, they got to keep anything they found that wasn't needed for the Let's Play and food was shared. They didn't really necessarily trade either, more asking rudely for things and stealing from Gavin's chest every once and awhile for fun. But Ray was right when he said they worked around the clock, it would be due time for a vacation.

"We should start a protest." Ray said, putting away his pickaxe in favor of sitting on a crafting bench and taking out his bottle of water. It was hot in the mines, and the torches only made it hotter. It didn't help that Ryan was smelting iron in four different furnaces not three feet away. "Me and Jack could make the signs, Michael could do the yelling and Ryan could do the scheming…" Ray paused for a moment, thinking. "I don't know what Gavin should be, he'd probably mess everything up."

Ryan looked up from the furnace, "Gavin could be the mascot slash meat shied when the police eventually come to arrest us."

"And that," Ray said pointedly, "is why you're the schemer."

"Scoot over Tuxedo Fat." Michael stopped as soon as he saw Ray stopped. He wasn't going to fucking work when Ray was just sitting on his ass. He may tolerate not getting paid but he was definitely taking breaks.

Ray stood, leaving the crafting bench to Michael. His pack was bulging with items and he sat next to it, throwing away the useless things. "So I was thinking peaceful protest on Thursday and then if that doesn't work we'll come up with whatever Ryan whips up."

"I'm thinking flint and steel, lava, TNT, and some harming potions." Ryan supplied while adding some more coal into the furnace. Both Michael and Ray huddled closer as the rising flames casted Ryan's face in creepy shadows. Ryan always had to be the creepy guy.

"Actually, let's not do the protest," Ray back pedaled, "I mean I literally have a million roses in my chest; that's payment enough."

"In your chest as in your…?" Ryan pointed vaguely towards Ray's torso, a little grin on his face. They always asked stupid questions, mostly to pass the time or for a few laughs. It was a part of the Achievement Hunter charm.

"Yes, Ryan," Sarcasm dripped from Ray's voice like sap from a tree, "I'm actually made of thousands of roses and picking up more roses makes me stronger."

Michael snorted, no doubt going to add something to the conversation when they all heard a scream.

"It's Jack!" Michael was already up, drawing his diamond sword from his belt. Ray took out his bow, he was low on arrows but hopefully he wouldn't miss. Ryan rushed to action as well, an iron sword at his beckoning as well as a handful of potions on his belt.

They were all in iron armor, but Ryan distinctly remembered that Jack was missing his chest piece; it breaking on their way to the mine.

"You think he's in real danger?" There were many false alarms in Achievement City, Gavin being responsible for most of them. It was always disconcerting when someone was out of sight and screaming cause they never knew if it was a simple scream of surprise or real terror.

"Help!" The sound was coming from above them. They dug straight down to the cave they were currently in and last time they checked he was making actual stairs to make an easy way out. Did a mob walk down them and he didn't notice?

"I'm going to go with yes." Michael said shortly. They got into motion pounding up the cobblestone stairs. Jack wasn't the best fighter, the man was more of a carpenter but he wasn't allowed to help build the Let's Plays due to 'artistic difference's'. Give him wooden planks and he'll have a house ready in no time with furniture, windows, and paintings. Give him a sword…

He'd likely stab himself in the toe or accidentally behead someone.

They found Jack on a side room up the stairs. He was surrounded by lava on one side, a creeper on the other and a skeleton safely on the other side of the lava. standing on a little island. The room was a little small and with the lava it seemed boiling; the only exit seemed to be the way they came.

"Baby zombie!" Indeed a rare baby zombie was charging towards Michael. With a raise of his arms, Michael lifted his diamond sword and swished it down, hitting it plainly on the head. A part of the green skin of the vern's head fell and an oozing of pink brain coated Michael's sword. The thing was still alive.

Ray focused on the Skeleton, with Jack's back to lava and the skeleton, it would be easy for Jack to get hit or accidentally fall.

Ray missed once, the arrow whizzing by the skeleton archer's shoulder. The skeleton archer thankfully paid attention to Ray at that point.

"Bring it on skinny fuck." Ray said, aiming his next shot.

Ryan, meanwhile, carefully approached the creeper, his iron sword glinting from the bubbling lava.

"What happened to your sword Jack?" The creeper was expanding slowly and Ryan made haste to go back a few steps.

"I dropped it!" Jack was slowly getting backed into a corner and it was a miracle the man had survived this long with so many dangers in the room. Jack had a habit of dropping things on accident as all of them sometimes did but it was like he couldn't hold on.

"Are you fucking kidding me Jack?" Michael stabbed his sword through the baby zombie's chest, satisfied when it died and disintegrated slowly, only leaving rotten meat on the ground. He looked at his diamond sword with disgust as zombie goop fell from it like saliva.

"Where the fuck is it?" Michael asked, trying to clean his sword without touching it, rubbing it against the smooth stone wall.

"Over there." Jack pointed to a point left of Ray and, there it was, his iron sword.

"Then go fucking get it." Michael joined Ryan in systematically luring and killing the creeper leaving Jack with just enough room to squeeze past and retrieve his sword. He picked it up and joined in luring the creeper. The problem with three people luring the creeper in a cramped room was that they were perpetually in the danger zone and there was no room for baiting.

"Got ya!" Ray crowed as the skeleton turned into dust, which was lucky since he only had two arrows left. Sadly, he was not able to dodge all of the skeleton's shots and only winced a little when he pulled the arrow stuck in his shoulder.

The good point of having three people on a creeper in a cramped room was that they could hit it easily. The creeper turned to gunpowder but not before Jack accidentally sliced the back of Michael's bear costume open, a thin scratch spilling blood down from the wound Jack's sword created. It wasn't deep or anything particularly worrying but either way, Jack's apology sounded sincere enough. Friendly fire was rare but it happened sometimes and everyone agreed that it was no one's fault. Unless it was Gavin's doing. In which case it was always his fault.

"Everyone else okay?" Ray asked, he had gotten rid of his chest piece, sitting in a corner, he tried to stop his wound from bleeding. Everyone else was fine. Dirt, sweat, and black smudge graced everyone's features and they all could probably benefit from a bath but they were fine. Blood coated Ray's shoulder and he tried to shield his wound from Ryan's purposeful hands but the man would have none of it.

"Stop being such a baby." Ryan said around the cork of a healing potion. He took it out with a pop, and swatted the hand covering the wound away.

"You're a sadist." Ray winced as Ryan poured a bit of healing potion directly on the wound. It patched before their eyes but it hurt like a bitch; at least it was effective. In a few seconds Ray's shoulder felt good as new and he stretched it leisurely.

"Thanks guys," Jack spoke up a little timidly, "I thought I was dead."

"You _were_ dead. Haven't you ever seen a scary movie? You don't stray from the group." Except they did all the time but no one pointed it out and so Ray didn't find it important to add.

"Actually the minority goes out first and that's Ray, after that _then_ you don't stray from the group." Michael pointed out.

"But what if Ray goes out and Jack got lost. Then he'd be second dead which is still dead." Ryan countered.

"Well," Ray began, "jokes on all of you because I'm a superhero and when has a superhero ever died and not been revived?"

They slowly went back to the staircase and back to the room they were in before Jack's cry, deciding on another break. Jack had a bunch of steaks on him and that settled it. It was lunch time.

* * *

A/N Doesn't seem to have a plot but it does.


End file.
